Climate change, sustainable development and geotechnical engineering: A New Zealand framework for improvementKeynote Address

Climatic warming caused by the emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases is occurring across the globe. These changes will increase the exposure of the built environment to hazards such as sea level rise and coastal inundation and exacerbate existing hazards such as expansive soils and landslides. In New Zealand, the built environment and its construction is responsible for about 20% of the emissions that are the primary cause of climate change. The way our built environment is designed must change to adapt to these future increases in hazard and must also mitigate emissions where possible to limit future increases in hazard to manageable levels. This paper describes climate change effects where they have overlaps with geotechnical design and hazard assessment (with particular reference to Auckland as an example), discusses the impact that these changes are expected to have on geotechnical practice in the coming years and decades, and presents a framework for managing these in the design processes.